Guitar Hero to get greatest hits release for World Tour

Activision Blizzard continues to ride high on the success of the Guitar Hero …

Go back and look at the track lists from the original Guitar Hero and Guitar Hero 2—there were some amazingly great tracks included in those games, while Guitar Hero 3 was more of a mixed bag. Activision Blizzard thinks there is life in those old tracks yet, as the company announced during yesterday's conference call that a product consisting of select tracks from past games—re-coded to work with every instrument from World Tour—is coming in the second quarter of this year.

The game will be made available for the PS3, 360, and Wii, and there are no details about what songs will make the cut, or if the songs that were covered for the older games will be added using the original master tracks for a better sound. It was also announced that we can expect another Guitar Hero title for the Nintendo DS sooner rather than later. Activision Blizzard is nothing if not ambitious when it comes to releasing games for its star properties.

Moves like this make us wonder what's in store for the future of Guitar Hero; Activision Blizzard seems to be very happy releasing as many add-ons and incremental updates as possible... it could be a while before we see a proper sequel for World Tour. When that sequel comes, however, we also don't expect any way to keep the tracks from that game, as Rock Band allowed for a $5 fee when the sequel was released.

In business they teach you not to listen to what people say, but what they buy. These moves are most likely smart from a sales standpoint; people will likely complain loudly while lining up with their wallets in their hands. Even the most hardened skeptic has to admit that it could be fun to play "Thunderkiss '65" on the drums.

I think this constant releases of guitar heroes is good for the customer. At least for the ones like me who wait for price drops. You get lots of songs for your money, even if you don't get to choose each song like you would with DLC. For example GH: Aerosmith released at 50 or 60 bucks. It can be bought brand new now for $20. The same thing will happen to GH: Metalica.

GH: World tour is currently sold for $36 at amazon. That's a lot of songs for 36 dollars. I think the same will happen as long as they keep releasing games at this pace.

I agree that GH2's playlist was the best; it's a shame we can't get them for RB. I'd happily shell out $80-$100 for 50 of the best songs from GH/GH2 (and a couple select gems from GH3) if Harmonix did a similar remake.

As much as this seems like a money grab (and it undoubtedly is), I just can't bring myself to complain very much. Letting me consolidate my Guitar Hero to just the Wii and giving me one more reason to fully retire the PS2 is fine with me, as long as the setlist is big enough. I actually was thinking the other day that I wished Activision would just straight port GH 1 & 2 to the Wii (and obviously the PS3 as well as port GH 1 to the 360, since the original was a PS2 exclusive). Updating the songs to take advantage of the full World Tour band makes it even better. It may be a soulless cash-in, but damned if it isn't a very smart and appealing one.